Research Synthesis

Led by Professor Nigel Brandon, Imperial College London

Here we work across the Hub to reach out to others in the sector and address strategically significant research questions, with outputs directed to policy makers, research funders and technology developers/end users. Our outputs will be four white papers addressing the role and impact of hydrogen and fuel cells in: (i) the provision of low carbon heating systems, (ii) the provision of secure and affordable energy supplies for the future (iii) creation of jobs in UK and (iv) in future energy systems.

Research Reports

Institute: UCL

The aim of this project is to develop a low-cost and durable power system by integrating hydrogen fuel cells and supercapacitors with in-situ gas purification. To this end,

High surface area porous graphenes/MOFs/carbons based sorbents/membranes have been developed and assessed the H2/CO2/CH4 selectivity by means of single component absorption tests at room temperature.

The pore structure of MOFs and its derived carbons have been optimised. The absorptive uptake tests show giant enhancement in the binding of highly polarizable molecules such as CO2 over H2.

A purification system that consists of both high resolution mass spectroscopy as well as high sensitivity gas chromatography has been designed for membrane based H2 purification tests.

An early hypothetical propulsion system has been constructed.

Three iterations of bus road data have been collected and verified.

Clean transport is essential to reduce both CO2 and pollutant emissions in an increasingly populated urban environment. The proposed development can quicken the steps of de-carbonisation and de-pollution of the urban environment.

Institute: UCL

This project aims to develop a hybrid system that has both an in-situ gas purification system to reduce H2 fuel cost for HFCs, and complex metal oxide sensors (CMOS) for real-time impurity monitoring to reduce cell maintenance costs and extend the lifetime of HFCs. The research outcome from this collaborative project can pave the way for rapid de-carbonisation of our transport system.

Institute: UCL

Definition of a UK green hydrogen standard

This project is examining how a green hydrogen standard could be defined and how it could provide a foundation to support the development of hydrogen and fuel cells through existing and new policy instruments in the future. Two draft working papers have been produced that summarise green hydrogen definitions and identify relevant policy areas. The responses to the DECC call for evidence are being analysed.

Institute: Oxford (All)

Increased impact from UK Research Council supported hydrogen and/or fuel cell research

This project enables UK hydrogen and fuel cell researchers to design and commission specialist sample environments for use at ISIS. These sample environments are designed to perform simultaneous neutron scattering and functional property measurements of hydrogen and fuel cell materials and systems, under regimes of temperature, pressure and environment that most closely approximate to real-world application conditions.

ISIS will collaborate directly with both existing and new H2FC SUPERGEN users of ISIS to design experiments, including the development of novel sample environments. Enhanced characterisation facilities for the community will lead to considerable advances in the understanding of hydrogen storage and fuel cell materials, which, in turn, will lead to the development of new materials, system designs and architectures and, ultimately, improved performance.